TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (9) TMI 1540
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....48 of the Act is null & void as the ITO who issued the notice was not having pecuniary jurisdiction over the appellant in as much as the return was filed declaring total income of Rs. 4075210 for which the jurisdiction vests with the ACIT/DCIT. 2) The notice issued u/s 148 of the Act is time barred rendering the consequent assessment order as null & void. 3) The approval granted by the PCIT u/s 151 of the Act in a mechanical fashion is not in accordance with law rendering the notice issued u/s 148 of the Act and consequent assessment order as null & void. 4) The assumption of jurisdiction u/s 148 of the Act is not valid as the information received did not suggests that the income chargeable to tax esca....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....rounds, being grounds number 1, 2, 3 and 6 in the grounds of appeal, have been raised for the first time and the same have now been admitted for hearing, and since these grounds are legal in nature and go to the root of the matter, I have decided to adjudicate these grounds firstly. 4. Ground number 1 raised by the assessee relates to challenging the order of assessment passed under section 147 read with section 144B of the Income-tax Act pursuant to notice issued under section 148 of the Act, as according to the assessee, the AO who issued the notice under section 148 was not having pecuniary jurisdiction over the assessee. 5. I have heard the counsels for both the parties, perused the material placed on record before me, and also go....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....s not treat the allocation of work on the basis of monetary limits as conferring exclusive jurisdiction on a particular officer. 8. Although CBDT Instruction No. 1/2011 merely prescribes the administrative norms for distribution of work between the ITOs and ACIT/DCIT, such instructions facilitate internal administration and workload management; they do not, by themselves, create or extinguish statutory jurisdiction. 9. Moreover, section 127 of the Income-tax Act overrides ordinary jurisdictional allocation and empowers the Principal Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner, Principal Commissioner, or Commissioner to transfer "any case" from one Assessing Officer to another Assessing Officer. 10. Thus, in my view, the expression emplo....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....mbers 2 and 3 are also legal issues, which have been raised for the first time. Ground number 2 relates to the limitation of the notice issued under section 148 of the Act, whereas ground number 3 relates to the validity of the approval granted by the PCIT under section 151 of the Act. These grounds also require examination and verification of the relevant assessment records. Therefore, in view of my finding on ground number 1, I also restore ground numbers 2 and 3 back to the file of the AO for verification of the relevant records and adjudication thereof in accordance with law. 15. Now coming to ground numbers 4, 5 and 6. Ground number 4 relates to the validity of assumption of jurisdiction under section 148 of the Act on the basis of ....